Difference
by SqueekyPhr33k
Summary: Just because someone or something does not work in your benefit, doesn’t mean it’s broken . . . it only means it is different from what you know. Oneshot


**A/N: **Well, hello, I haven't seen you in a while, now have I?

Sigh, it feels so good to do something for no one but myself, so this is what this is, just me putting out something that's just because, not a class assignment, not a commission, true, on my own...something.

Anyways, I suppose you don't want to hear me complain, so onto explaining the story and the inspiration and such.

This document has been sitting under many folders on my desktop for some time now, and at first I thought of just putting Dib in this first person narrative, but I decided to design it as a fanfiction that it would be possible for the reader to either insert themselves, or some (human) OC that you crazy fanfiction people create, lol. :D

So, if you do not wish to insert yourself, or an OC, please, feel free to read this as Dib, or some other character that you want. I hope it does not upset people because I didn't completely establish this as one specific character, please, view this as a little bit of freedom as a reader.

Choose whom you wish and enjoy!

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**Difference**

_Just because someone or something does not work in your benefit, doesn't mean it's broken . . . it only means it is different from what you've always known._

I turn around the many corners and tunnels that are Zim's labs, I have a strange turning feeling in the pit of my stomach as I come closer to an open door. The sounds of my footsteps echo eerily as I approach the door cautiously, I look carefully through the doorway, the light is dimmer in this room than the hall, and I see no movement whatsoever, still, I enter. The cold smell of metal drifts to my nose and the feeling in my stomach isn't getting any better.

I find him slumped in a dark corner of this lab, and he is staring intently at a blank screen. I am a little afraid of his reaction when he sees me, but I still move closer.

It was strange to see him in this position, sitting casually and leaning against the wall behind him, his arms loosely crossed, lying carelessly over his bent knees. At first I wasn't sure if this loosely slouched figure was Zim, after seeing him only stand or sit in stiff military-like poses. If it was not for the fact of his red eyes and bright green skin, I would have mistaken him for . . . human.

His cold, yet passionately determined stare has left his eyes and all that remained was a chillingly empty stare carelessly fixed on the empty screen across from him.

His red orbs for eyes glance at me then back to the screen, barely acknowledging I'm there. This takes me by complete surprise, as I wholeheartedly expected him to jump up once he saw me and shout something in his angry and full of energy voice. Without truly thinking about it, I sit on the cold metal floor beside him.

His body stiffens at my close presence and he curls his knees closer to his chest and tightens his crossed arms, giving me a small half-hearted glare.

It is definitely Zim, curled there, trying his best not to look heartbroken.

I turn my head so I'm looking at the blank screen with him. I'm waiting for him to speak, but it looks like I am going to be there for a while.

We sit there, and my mind trails, still wishing to ask him why he is this way, but I try to hush it with my own reasons.

I'm feeling a little drowsy, with my body being inactive for so long when I hear a frightening sound come from him.

A sharp inhale makes me turn my head just in time to see him quickly wipe away a tear off his face.

"...Zim." I don't hold back the sympathy, even though I know it will anger him.

"What, human." Zim tries to harshly snap, his voice cracking and crumbling. There is an awkward silence I need to break.

"I'm sorry." I blurt out awkwardly.

Zim looks at me, bewildered and then glares at me, but only looks away to the screen in discomfort. He loosely unfolds his arms and leans his back farther into the wall.

"You confuse Zim."

"I'm sorry you're feeling this way. That's what I meant."

"Zim is fine." He speaks. It was comforting a little, but I think it was intended mostly for himself.

"...Can I ask what's wrong?"

"No." Zim spat. He glances around for a second and then quickly adds, "Nothing is wrong. I said Zim is fine."

I look back at the screen for an indecisive moment. Finally deciding I can't help, I begin to stand up when I feel something grasp on my sleeve.

"Don't . . . " He trails, and I look down to him in slight surprise. His eyes were pleading for a second, then drops my sleeve, acting like I disgusted him with my presence and that he wasn't just about to ask me to stay.

"Okay." I speak softly and gently, sitting back down.

I watch him curiously, he glances to me and then looks back to the screen quickly.

I notice his lip trembling, as he is still trying to stare carelessly at the screen. His face was softening by the moment as his eyes began to tear up.

"I..." I trail off. I don't know what to say. For Zim to even want company was strange, and for him to cry was even more perplexing. He takes a shaking breath, and looks at me, his sad eyes catching me off-guard.

"Why . . . " He said, then paused for a long time, almost like he was not sure if he wanted to ask something. "Why is it that you understand me . . . better than Zim?"

"I...uh . . . um . . . " I stammer. I don't have a clue how to answer that question. Me? Understand Zim? No one completely understands him . . . how could I?

"Tell me human. Because I don't even know why I told you to stay. And I barely asked, yet you understood. I thought you humans were supposed to be stupid!"

"Um . . . I . . . uh . . . " I still couldn't find anything to say. "I feel kind of stupid now."

He let out a quick laugh, and then slowly looked to the floor, like he never laughed in the first place.

He suddenly turned his head to me, staring at me like he always does.

"Let's leave." He almost hisses at me.

"What?"

"You ask so many questions, human! Let's leave this planet and see if I can answer them." His eyes are burning into my face with an almost playful rage. "I'm sick of this atmosphere. Let's find a different one."

"But . . . what about . . . ?"

"My mission?" He scoffs. "It's on . . . a sort of . . . pause as you call it. I will be back later . . . possibly." He takes a sharp breath and then intently looks me in the eye. "Let's leave."

He only stares at me, scanning my face deeply, waiting for some sort of response.

"What? Right now?!" I ask.

"Of course now!"

"But . . . I . . ." I can't think of a good reason to stay on earth. "I...um, I need to pack."

"Pack? PAK?" He looks at me confused. "You can't have a PAK!" He shouts.

"No! Gather supplies! For a . . . trip?" I say, wondering if Irkens even bring things on vacations.

"Who said anything about a trip? Silly human!" Zim said, waving his hand at me dismissing the thought.

"You did!" I shout.

"Ah . . . that . . . " He strokes his face in thought.

"How long will we be gone?" I question. I slowly stand, preparing to leave and gather my things, surprised at myself that I'm agreeing to this impulsive vacation.

"I was thinking around the lines of . . . forever. Hmm . . . yea, that sounds good." He stands up with me, whatever was bothering him seeming to be lifted off his shoulders.

"Forever?! You can't mean that! I...I can't just leave! I live here! I can't just leave forever!"

"Why not?" He questions me, serious. He's serious!

"I...I have . . . " I try and come up with a good reason, a reason why I would need to stay on earth. "I have to get an education!" I say, lame excuse.

"That's why we're leaving! To answer your many questions, stink-beast!" He laughs at my excuse, he laughs at me and my confused face, the way I'm standing in a mid-step awkward stance.

"I...My race . . . is all here, Zim, on this planet! ONLY this planet!"

"And? ...So?" Zim asks, waiting for an explanation as why the human race would matter. Beginning to grin wickedly, realizing he is winning this argument.

"It's . . . my home." I whisper, knowing fully I lost the argument. I lower my arms. I'm not able to come up with any other answer.

He stops his grin, and it fades quickly. He sighs heavily, looking back to the screen again.

"Home." He repeats, as softly as I said it but with a heart-wrenching and defeated tone, a tone I'd never heard him use, ever.

I'm waiting for his ridicule on my reason, yet he only stands there, staring back to the static screen.

"Home is . . . " He trails. "Home is . . . " He whispers softer as sorrow washes over him again. He glanced down at the ground, looking as if he would cry again.

Then, he takes a deep breath and looks up at me, anger flushing quickly over his face.

"Unimportant. Meaningless." He straightens up, walking toward me, his voice growing louder and louder with each word. His antennae are raising higher with every step he takes.

"Useless! NOTHING!" His voice is cracking, I can see the tears starting to well up, I back up in fear as he reaches out and grasps my coat in his fists, shaking me, shouting in my face with his powerful voice.

"EMPTY! POINTLESS!" Tears are drenching his cheeks. He sobs and falls on his knees, my coat sliding through his fingers as he falls. His antennae fall quickly and he collapses to the cold floor of his base.

"MINDLESS! DEFECTIVE! WORTHLESS ZIM!!" He's screeching, sobbing, beating the floor harshly with his fists. I can't speak; I've never seen him like this.

"Worthless Zim . . . " He chokes out a sob. "You are nothing for the empire . . . and . . . everything against . . . you are useless . . . " He pauses and I can hear him still crying softly. "You've never . . . pleased us . . . You would be terminated if you were . . . here . . . " He lets out another painful sob. "...at . . . home . . . " His small shoulders are trembling as he continues to crouch there, his palms spread out onto the floor.

I don't know what to do. I feel my sympathetic side wash over me deeply, my throat tightens and my eyes water. I reach a hesitant hand out to his shoulder.

I lay my hand on him lightly, and he freezes. He looks over to my palm that I've outstretched in an attempt to be sympathetic, but ending up looking awkward with his strange stare that was somewhere between anger, confusion and sorrow.

He stands warily, with my palm still lightly on his shoulder, and takes a slow and defeated steps toward me, to where he is inches away from me, standing there awkwardly, a look of sadness and tired remiss on his face.

I take him into a hug, thinking this was what his intentions were, and hold his small frame as gently as I can. For a moment, he does not submit into the hug, he stands there about an inch away from me, staring straight into my shirt, a few stray tears slipping down his cheeks.

"Human." He speaks in such a weak whisper that I have to strain to hear him. "I think I will require your company. For . . . a while."

I nod, even though I don't think he can see my face.

Zim holds back a few tears, as he grips my shirt with his claws, burying his face into my body, allowing me to hug him properly.

I run my hand along the back of his head and down his back like you when you're best friends with someone, at least . . . I think that's what you do with a best friend. I'm hoping this is comforting him.

His skin is like a movable sort of glass. It is incredibly smooth and firm, but cooler to the touch than normal human flesh.

I think over what he was saying in his fit of helplessness. I'm concluding his so beloved leaders rejected him and said he was a defective of his race. This makes me almost laugh because the human race would have a lot of name-calling to do if it were picking out its defective ones. I want to say something to comfort him.

I open my mouth and speak before I even really think about what I'm going to say.

"Zim . . . " I start. "Just because something . . . or someone . . . doesn't work for someone . . . doesn't mean that it's broken."

I can hear him take a sharp inhale of breath, and his antennae flicker higher.

"Human, you confuse Zim. Too many 'someones'. Explain."

"Okay . . . " I trail. Should I go into specifics? "Just because you . . . don't work to your leaders advantage, doesn't mean that you are broken or defective."

He scoffs disgusted and pulls sharply away from me, standing some good few feet away, like we had never embraced at all.

"That's pre-postal-rust!" He shouts.

"You mean preposterous."

"That's what I said." He shifts his weight and he stands erectly. "An irken is designed to please their leaders, to follow code, to complete . . . things said by their leaders." His voice falters, his shoulders beginning to slouch, and it's obvious he's holding back his emotions the best he can.

"But, just because . . . you don't do that . . . doesn't mean you're a defective!"

"Then what, human, does it exactly mean?" He takes a stride toward me, glaring up at me in his newfound confidence.

"It means you're different. Not broken, nor worthless. You're different."

"Eh?!" He asks. His face contorting, almost angrily but mostly confused.

"You're an individual, Zim. That means you're stronger. Stronger than your entire race, Zim! Because, while your whole planet is doing the same task, getting the same result, and acting all the same, as mindless robots, nestled in their cozy state of mind, thinking they are so safe, you are here, doing something different. Being unique. Making a _difference_! You put out so much effort, Zim. More than any other being I've ever seen, Irken or otherwise. And it's truly amazing, to use your own words. You are amazing, because you are unique. You have the bravery and courage to stand out from your race in such a way that no one can ever forget you."

He looks down to the ground, still standing away from me, and slowly closes his eyes and only stands there.

Just when I'm about to check and see if he's all right, a smile graces his face. Not a simple half-hearted, or even a menacing one,

A real true smile.

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**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed it! Please, feel free to leave me a review, I love them good. :) 

Ps. Just to let you all know, Where They Are Now is on a small break b/c I'm crazy busy, but it should start to return sometime this summer!


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